ZipLine™ Appoints John Tighe As CEO

In short

In case you were wondering where he’d gone after Peak Surgical was acquired by Medtronic last year, former CEO John Tighe has been unveiled as the new CEO of ZipLine Medical, an emerging medical device company that is developing a platform technology called PRELOC™ for noninvasive surgical skin closure designed to provide a suture- like outcome with the speed of staples.

Background

Californian start-up company ZipLine Medical has developed a platform technology which it calls PRELOC™ (Pre-placement RE- aligning Low-tension Closure) — for noninvasive surgical skin closure via a simple, easy-to-learn and easy-to-use device. Because skin-closure is a common denominator of almost all surgeries, ZipLine’s believes its PRELOC platform has broad applicability across numerous medical specialties.

Prior to being recruited to ZipLine Medical, Mr. Tighe was a Director and President and CEO of PEAK Surgical, joining the company as its first employee in June 2006. In July 2011, he negotiated the acquisition of PEAK Surgical by Medtronic. Mr. Tighe was responsible for establishing clinical development and sales of PEAK’s novel radio frequency technology in a variety of surgical specialties, including General Surgery, ENT, Orthopedics, and Plastic Surgery.

Prior to joining PEAK, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Arthrocare Corp., where he managed the company’s three business units, comprised of Sports Medicine, ENT, and Spine. During his time at the company, Arthrocare was one of the fastest-growing publicly traded medical device companies. Mr. Tighe is a member of the Community Advisory Board of El Camino Hospital of Los Gatos (CA), and earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland.

Company comments

“John Tighe is a serial CEO who knows how to build and grow profitable companies,” said Amir Belson, M.D., Founder of ZipLine Medical. “We are very excited to emerge from stealth mode with a highly experienced CEO who has an outstanding track record of achievement.”

John Tighe speaks

“I see important similarities between the ZipLine Medical opportunity and my experience at PEAK Surgical,” added Mr. Tighe. “For example, both companies have platforms with large target markets and broad applications across major medical specialties. This kind of wide-open possibility is rare among medical device companies. And, too, I was the first employee at PEAK and the third employee at ZipLine, so I understand what it takes to build a growth-oriented and profitable company from scratch,” Tighe said.